Bibliometric and visualized analysis of global research on fungal keratitis from 1959 to 2019.

Background: Fungal keratitis is one of the leading causes of ocular morbidity. The prognosis of fungal keratitis is poorer than many other forms of keratitis but the research of which relatively lags behind. We conducted a bibliometric and visualized analysis in order to characterize the overall status, general trends and current foci of keratomycosis research field.

Methods: Literature database ranged from 1959 to 2019 was obtained from web of science core collection and analyzed by Citespace and VOSviewer software.

Results: A total of 1906 papers of fungal keratitis were retrieved and derived a 27,917 references document set. The number of publications increased rapidly in past 30 years. Cornea was the journal published most papers of keratomycosis. The leading countries were United States of America (USA), India and Peoples Republic of China (PRC), from where came the most productive and most cited institutions and authors. Co-cited reference analysis revealed the most cited manuscripts were concerned about epidemiology or spectrum. Lens-associated Fusarium, amphotericin B, voriconazole, corneal cross-linking, predisposing factor are some of the high frequency topics in clustered co-cited reference analysis and co-occurrence keywords analysis. Burst detection analysis of keywords showed ocular drug delivery was the new research foci.

Conclusion: From this study, we received an overall view to the current status, trends and hot spots of fungal keratitis research field. Visualized bibliometric analysis is an efficient way for literature learning and useful for future researchers.